


Dazzling, Indescribable

by Fiercest



Series: Catra Deserves Good Things [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Forehead Touching, Found Family, Marriage Proposal, Pining Adora, Sex Education, horde kids are weird, sex does not equal love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24533146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiercest/pseuds/Fiercest
Summary: Adora adjusts to life in Etheria and learns about the world outside the Horde. Then she shares it all with Catra.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Catra Deserves Good Things [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784830
Comments: 29
Kudos: 378





	Dazzling, Indescribable

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 is told through Adora's POV in the past tense. Part told switches to Catra's POV in the present tense.
> 
> This came about because of my need to see Catra experience the good things in the world that she was missing out on. Also, a conversation I had with @holyfuckabear (Dandybear on here) where we talked about the fact that Horde kids definitely like 'invented' sex but would probably not know what kissing was. So their perspective would be entirely dependant on the explanations. "Oh, kissing is a thing people in love do? Well, NEITHER OF US IS WILLING TO ADMIT TO THAT, SO NO KISSING.
> 
> Part of this got cut and stuck into my oneshot collection 'Promise No Love's Like Our Love' because it didn't fit with the rest.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Also, Yes the title is a inside joke with myself.  
>  **Adora:** i can show you the woooooorld  
>  **Catra: please don’t.**

_“Do all lovers feel like they’re inventing something?” –_ Portrait of A Lady On Fire, Celine Sciamma

**__ **

**_ Part 1 _ **

**Sex**

When Adora and Catra were teenagers a horribly contagious disease spread through the Horde bases in the Fright Zone. It was called Clam-id-yeah and it precipitated their one and only instance of formal sex-education.

Force Captain Gird, the oldest and most bootlicking of the higher-ranking officers stood in front of a room full of soldiers and began by explaining that Clam-id-yeah was actually spelled Chlamydia and that it was transmitted through unprotected sex. Which begged the question: What’s sex?

Some people seemed to know, others did not and no way was Adora going to be the one to raise her hand and look foolish. Catra’s face said that _she_ knew, so Adora could not afford it.

Luckily, Rogelio was brave and confused just like the rest of their group. He raised his hand and growled, ending on an inquisitive rumble. Lonnie translated. “What’s sex?” She asked, arms crossed. “Is what he asked. Not me. I’m not askin’”.

Gird seemed to fumble over this question for a moment before looking around the room and confirming that most of the room did not in fact know what sex was. “Well. Sex is an act of physiological relief most often conducted between two parties. It involves genitalia being penetrated by other genitalia, resulting in satisfaction. Fluids are exchanged through this process and this is how the disease is transferred.” It was a highly scientific explanation. And it seemed extremely boring. Catra lost interest and slouched down in her seat. Adora stayed fully upright but she concurred. Why bother?

It didn’t seem like a big deal until one of their group did it. Lonnie explained (in great detail) that sex involved, fingers, tongues and sensory overload. She extolled over how amazing it felt and told them all that they should try it.

Turns out… _not boring at all._

**Love**

Marriage was not a concept that existed in the Fright Zone but Adora knew the gist of what it was, even if she’d never heard the word.

Most people in the Fright Zone kept romantic and sexual attachments behind closed doors. It was unseemly and a distraction from the mission. Maurus and Androctona were different. They were around Before. The two Scorpionis could be seen holding hands, brushing knuckles and staring into each other’s eyes in the mess. They said nice things about each other and they were the first example of love that any of the Horde kids ever had.

Then one day they were gone.

No one was ever found making out in hallways or holding hands under tables ever again.

Adora knew, even as a teenager, that Catra was special. She felt better whenever she was around. Not just about herself, but about the world and about her life. It was a good one as long as Catra was in it. _You look out for me and I’ll look out for you._

The things she felt for her were different than what she felt for Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle. Not just magnified but another animal altogether. It wasn’t want. No, it was also that. It wasn’t joy. Though, it was that too. It was need, intrinsic to her being and essential to her world. Her world began and ended with Catra.

Those were big feeling for a Horde brat with no vocabulary to explain it. No example. No conventions. It felt like something she had entirely invented.

The thing that Adora didn’t have a word for but would one day learn was _love._

**Kisses**

Sex was explained to them by necessity as it affected Horde operations, but no one bothered to say anything about kissing.

“Follow me,” Catra had Adora boost her up to a vent and then turned back to pull her up. Adora went without protest. Exploring usually went well for them if they did it out of sight of Shadow Weaver.

Catra eventually stopped, prompting Adora to question, “What are we doing?”

“Shh!” Catra’s ears twitched.

Together, they looked down through a ceiling vent and onto two female soldiers touched faces. They could hear weird squelching and slurping noises from their perch. “What are they doing?” Adora whispered as quietly as she could.

Catra looked from Adora, to the couple below. She moved aside the grate and Adora realized that one of the women was Octavia. Before she could stop her, Catra hooked her legs and swung upside down so her face was a foot above theirs, albeit upside-down. “STOP, DON’T!” Adora whisper-shrieked.

“What are you doing?” Catra demanded in that judgemental way of hers.

The women startled apart and stared up at Catra. “What the hell?!”

“Why are you mashing your faces together like that? It’s disgusting.”

“We’re kissing!” the one who was not Octavia hissed, offended.

Catra was unimpressed. “What’s kissing?”

Octavia was pissed, that was clear, and Adora knew that she’d give Catra hell later, but the other woman seemed to pity Catra while simultaneously finding her ignorance adorable. “It feels nice.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Not-Octavia, who had really pretty eyes, used them glance at Octavia. “It’s something two people do when they love each other. But not-“ she added hurriedly, “like your family or anything. Romantic love.”

Sex and love were separate things in the horde. Things that sometimes overlapped. Adora was perfectly comfortable having sex with Catra because it was safe. It was no bigger than she and her. Not like Love. Love, she’d recently learned, was a higher priority and admission of weakness. So they never kissed.

Adora loved Catra. She was her favourite person in the whole world. But nobody was ready for her to admit that.

**_ Part 2 _ **

**Love, Again**

“I love you! I always have.”

“You love me?” a breath, a heart skipping a beat. “I love you too.”

**Kisses, Again**

Catra and Adora were told that kisses were for people who loved each other. This drew a line in the sand directly between them; a boundary which said ‘this far, no further’. Neither could admit what they meant to each other. Not when they were together and certainly not when they were on opposite sides of a war.

“I love you” is permission. “I love you too” is everything.

Every moment Catra’s gaze ever slid from eyes to lips. Every time her fingers flexed with the desire to cup a soft cheek. Every time her stubborn heart shouted for Adora, while her head told her to bind and gag it.

Those inhibitions fall away and finally, Catra gets to kiss her.

And then she gets to keep doing it forever.

**Food**

It never occurred to Catra to eat anything other than the rations she packed for herself. Why would she? She had never eaten for pleasure, only sustenance. Taste was not a thing she knew about. Even when she was on missions, she ate her own food.

But then Horde Prime beamed her up to his ship. Then she brought trays of colourful food to Glimmer, never once taking a bite for fear of what was in it. She was paranoid down to her bones.

Then.

The door slides open, revealing the circle of friends laughing and gorging themselves, so at home with each other in a way that Catra has never been. She sits outside the circle, just so she doesn’t have to be alone. She doesn’t need to be a part of their stupid little gathering. She doesn’t need their acceptance.

But they offer it anyway. Entrapta and Glimmer slide apart, making space just for her. Bow hands her one of the white balls that they all seem to be eating. Before, she thought their exclamations of delight were about the conversation but no. No, they were about the food.

Catra’s life changes in an instant. It tastes… good. It’s the best thing she’s ever tasted. She greedily shoves the rest in her mouth, chewing with difficulty. Why didn’t anyone ever tell her that food could be amazing?

Glimmer demures, “You don’t have to say that. They’re just dumplings!”

Catra very seriously grabs her shoulders and makes intense eye contact. “These are…” Then she very suddenly remembers to hide all sign of enthusiasm, care or appreciation. She clears her throat and settles back over her heels. “These are fine… I guess,” her feral intensity betrays her. “Is there more?”

They feed her more than her fair share.

.

.

Adora takes her on a tasting tour of Etheria and then the universe. The second-hand joy that she seems to get from introducing Catra to all the sensualist pleasures of existing is nothing short of miraculous.

Catra never thought she would be loved like this.

Everywhere they go, they try something new together. Even if Adora had a head start, there is still so much to be discovered and savoured. She wants to taste new things with her, smell new flowers, listen to music, touch everything. She wants to see it all. The more she sees of the universe, the more she hungers. The Horde took so much from them but life has given them so much back.

Catra is mid-way through her point about why Bow’s new flute is terrible when Adora shoves a spoon full of yellow pudding into her open mouth. “Try this.” She savours it for a moment, letting it melt on her tongue. Her point can wait. It’s so much more important to focus on this.

“It’s sour!” She exclaims, delighted.

And Adora, who wears a blush well, gazes at her with adoration and the sheer enjoyment of it. Catra can’t help but press their foreheads together and kitten licks Adora’s bottom lip, tasting the pudding there too.

She doesn’t even mind the coos coming from the glittery peanut gallery.

**Family**

Catra starts forming her mental picture of a family tree when she learns what a father is. Micah is Glimmer’s father. Glimmer has a father and had a mother. She learns that usually you can have both at once and to not is _sad_.

She knows what a mother is because Shadow Weaver would say “I am not your mother”. A mother is someone it would hurt to lose, she learned that by hurting Glimmer. So she didn’t fully understand how Shadow Weaver was not that very thing. Perhaps she was saying that she was not her mother because she didn’t love her. That tracks.

But apparently a mother is a genealogical term.

She learns sister and aunt at once because Castaspella is both things. A person could be a different family member to different people. One could have more than one person in their family. She always thought Adora was her family, so now she’s confused.

“Of course I’m your family,” Adora exclaims with shiny eyes and jutting lower lip.

“But you’re not my sister.”

For some reason Adora makes a face. “No, but a family is like… more than a friend.” She nods sagely. Guru of life in Bright Moon, even though she’s a very poor explainer.

“So a girlfriend.”

“No!”

“No?”

“I mean, that too!” she rushes to assure her. Catra doesn’t need to be reassured, she needs to not be confused. “It’s like. Bow told me that sometimes family isn’t just your relatives. It’s the people you trust the most. Not just friends but, the people you belong with. Sometimes people love each other so much that love creates a family.”

This, Catra can understand. She has no relatives, so Adora, Glimmer and Bow are the only family she’s ever known. “So it’s like a club.”

Adora seems to accept this metaphor if it helps her process it. She throws her arms around her and nuzzles her cheek, “In your case, a very exclusive club.”

Catra chooses to ignore the extremely patronizing tone in favor of snuggles.

**Marriage**

Catra has heard Netossa and Spinerella refer to each other by the word wife many times. She isn’t big on admitting when she doesn’t understand something. She’d rather hang back and hope she picks up enough clues to figure it out on her own.

She sees them kiss after the horde is defeated and oh! Catra feels so stupid. Wife is just princess-speak for girlfriend! Why do they have to have so many different weird words for the same thing?

Catra’s never needed a word for what Adora is but it does come in handy when she has to introduce herself to someone. Or when some hot buff lady starts getting too cozy in either of their space. Catra can’t decide what she hates more. When people hit on Adora or when they hit on her.

So Catra starts calling herself Adora’s wife sometimes.

“Congratulations!” a tufty headed gentleman effuses. His arms are spotted pink and drag on the floor. This seems a little rude. People should be congratulating Adora because Catra is awesome.

But she knows the expected nicety. “Thank… you… I guess.”

Her eyes automatically search for Adora. She glances over her shoulder to find Adora already in her personal space. “Hiya,” expectation dripping from her voice.

“Hey Adora.” She grins so wide that her canines catch on her lower lip.

“Do you know this song?”

Everything’s still new. Catra doesn’t know any songs, but it doesn’t matter. She knows what Adora’s really asking.

“Sure, need me to teach you the steps?”

.

.

“She’s gonna be my wife!”

“He’s gonna be my husband!”

Somehow, Catra’s been corralled into a Best Friend Squad group hug and she would really rather not, thanks.

She counts to ten, deems the physical contact sufficient for a public place and heaves a great sigh while breaking away. Very put upon. No one is any the wiser. She’ll give them both hugs later, when there aren’t guards, princesses or Melogs around to broadcast her every feeling.

“I don’t get it-“

Adora seems very excited for them, but it’s entirely possible that Adora didn’t know they were even dating until this moment. She’s kind of a doofus like that.

“Isn’t she already your wife?” Catra finishes.

Adora gasps and shrieks. “YOU ARE?! And you didn’t tell me! Catra, how did you know?!”

“What?” Bow tries, “Catra, what are you talking about?”

With the surety of correctness she puffs up her chest and crosses her arms. “I know I didn’t completely misunderstand this… _situation_.” She teases, “If I did, you princesses are _way_ weirder than I already thought..”

Glimmer arches a skeptical pink brow. “ _When_ did you think we got married?”

“I dunno, around the same time Adora became my wife? I wasn’t paying that much attention.” She had better things to worry about. Like discovering how great kissing is. And like… making amends or whatever.

Adora hysterical laugh confuses her. What’s so funny? “You- I- Uh.”

“ADORA!” Glimmer and Bow shriek in betrayed unison.

“Did you guys not know?”

“Wait!” Adora shouts, throwing her arms up between her and the rest of them, backing up defensively. “I didn’t- _we_ didn’t! I would have told you guys, I swear!”

For just a second, Catra’s heart throws itself from the turret of her ribcage and collides on the floor. She should step on it, put it out of its misery. No way she’s misunderstood her relationship with Adora all this time right? They both say ‘I love you’ all the time and they kiss. They kiss A Lot. Kisses=love. Right? RIGHT?

Twice as quickly as she backed away, Adora leaps for Catra. She grabs her upset face and holds on. “Wait, Catra, I’m sorry. I- What’s happening right now?!” she gives a wordless, frustrated yell and just kisses her. “We’re okay. You’re okay but just. Explain? Please?”

“It’s just a word! I don’t get why everyone’s freaking out!”

“Because,” Glimmer interrupts in her bossy voice. “You’re supposed to _tell_ your friends when you get married. Like we just did! So we can all celebrate together!”

Catra is confused but doesn’t really wanna cop to it.

“What’s married?” she asks after several long seconds of silence.

“When you become husband and wife.”

“I _told you,_ we did that!”

Adora seems to think that she has no memory of this happening, but she does. She definitely does because she brings it up. All. The. Time. “When?!”

“In the heart of Etheria! When I kissed you! You told me you love me,” she hisses, “You’re not allowed to take it back _now_!”

“I’m not taking it back!”

Bow takes a deep, steadying breath and steps into the center of the cyclone of screaming women. “Everybody, calm down.” Melog brushes against Catra’s legs and whines. She realizes that her ears have drooped, purposefully perks them up and uncrosses her arms from her self-conscious self-hug. “Catra. What do you think husband and wife mean?”

Catra is very smart and good at picking up context clues. “Well, husband is the boy-word for wife.” This elicits nods from the group. “And a wife is someone you’re in a romantic relationship with.”

“Still not incorrect…”

“It’s like another word for girlfriend.” And here’s where Catra knows she’s gone wrong and should have quit while she was ahead, because they all look super confused.

“No Horde Scum, it’s not.” Uh oh. She’s got that face again. The face Glimmer and Bow both make when she sneezes. Or kisses Adora in front of them. Or does anything cat-like. She’s calling her ‘cute’ in her head. “Marriage is what happens after the girlfriend/boyfriend part.”

“There’s an after?” She glances at Adora to confirm. Sometimes they like to mess with her and make up fake Bright Moon traditions like Valen-times day and throwing change in pools of water to buy wishes.

Adora nods and she chooses to trust her. She usually doesn’t prank her when she’s already upset.

“When you want to be together forever-“

“-like me and Bow.” Oh good, they’ve reached the ‘finishing each other’s sentences’ part of the evening.

“You have a special ceremony where you promise to keep loving each other-”

“-You can make other promises too, personal vows-“

“-In front of all your family and friends-“

“-And then there’s a party in your honor-“

“-And for the rest of your lives you take care of each other, complete each other, love each other and belong to each other!

Catra does love being celebrated… “Yeah. I get it now. So you guys are getting… married.” She tests out the unfamiliar word. “Oh, is that why that guy wished me congratulations? Am I supposed to congratulate you guys on being stuck with each other?”

“Yes,” Glimmer grits, “that would be polite.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” the couple responds, tightly.

“Sorry guys, it’s not a thing in the Horde.” Catra doesn’t know if she likes Adora apologizing for her, but she supposes it saves her from having to do it. See? Completing each other.

Wait. “Ooooh. Uh. Adora, this is totally my bad or whatever, but I’ve been telling people you’re my wife for like months.”

Adora blushes, her lips form a cute little ‘o’ and her eyebrows rocket towards her hairline. “Y-you have?” she asks, a little strangled.

“Now that I know what it means though, I’ll stop.”

“No!”

“No?”

Adora scratches the back of her neck and looks away. Her rigid shoulders pull back like she’s bracing herself for an important mission. “We could do it too? Get married I mean?”

“Yeah, okay.” She supposes there’s no problem with formalizing an arrangement that she always saw as permanent. Adora is her forever, wherever they are, whatever the culture. “Do I have to make those promises in front of everyone?”

Adora releases a breath. She was holding her breath… She was nervous! Catra takes her hands and squeezes. They press their foreheads together so that when Adora speaks, her breath stirs Catra’s hair. “You just have to make them for me.”

“I can do that.” She kisses her sweetly and guides Adora’s arms around her waist. She cups the back of her neck with both hands. “Hey Adora, do you want to marry me?”

She finds herself being hoisted into the air. Adora’s eyes are impossible to look away from. They shine clear and blue and so so happy. “Yeah Catra. I really really wanna marry you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bow: SO CUTE!


End file.
